Our Current Location

Adventures in NevadaOne of the original purposes of this website was to help highlight why we moved to Nevada - specifically to the Minden/Carson City area. If you found this page and are seeking to learn more about Josh & Jennifer Brown's decision to move west, we assume you are asking questions like, "Why would they move to Nevada?" "What are they going to do there?" "How did this happen?". This website was created to help share our journey and story with you.

Part 1: Curiosity Caused the Move + A Whole Lot of PrayerOur journey west began out of curiosity. I, Jenn Brown, being a continual job-hunter, took a few moments one fall afternoon (2012) to "just see" what opportunities were listed on a popular church communications job board. Out of continued curiosity, I pulled up a job description for a Communications Director position in Minden, Nevada. The job description fit my experiences and interests perfectly. Upon looking at a map and realizing this was completely on the other side of the country from our current location (and family in the Midwest), I decided it would be crazy to apply.

But craziness has never stopped us in the past, and for some reason a few days later, this place was still on my mind, I pulled together an e-mail and sent my resume. It wasn't long before I heard back from the church and we set up a phone interview for the following week. Josh and I had a good laugh thinking about the possibility of living in Nevada but decided it wouldn't hurt to talk to them. The next week I was engaged in an exciting and intriguing first interview. In the midst of it, I caught a glimpse of God's "bigness" when praying with a pastor in Nevada while standing in my living room in Virginia – about 2,500 miles apart. Following this initial conversation, we continued an entertaining process of Q&A via email that ultimately led to more phone calls and an interview with the senior pastor.

The hour-long chat with the senior pastor in October resulted in an invitation to "come and see" what life in Minden might be like. In November, we interrupted our Thanksgiving vacation, and rerouted our trip to Reno, NV. From there, we traveled to the town of Minden, nestled beautifully on the eastern side of the mountains near Lake Tahoe. The region looked different from anywhere we had lived -- with few trees, rocks everywhere, and mountains surrounding the valley.

We spent the next few days meeting staff, interviewing, sight-seeing, and praying with church leadership. God moved in our hearts. We heard the vision for the church of 1,000+ and the need for Christian love in a community that is 90% unchurched and again got a glimpse of God as we considered what it might look like to serve in the "wild west". Flying out of Reno, we were left wondering, "What is God saying?"

We continued to pray for direction and struggled to know for sure what God was saying to us. It was (and is) hard to feel good about leaving such dear friends and our ministry in Virginia. It was (and is) hard to feel relaxed and at peace about moving further from family, but at the same time we were (and are) pretty confident that God was (and is) asking us to take this step of faith.

We spent the rest of Thanksgiving talking with family and friends in Missouri about the "possibility" of moving. We headed back east and continued making "pro and con" lists. The week after Thanksgiving, the job was officially offered and we felt like two deer in headlights. For three more weeks, we debated whether to stay or go. We discussed every angle from, "Is God leading us there?" "Will we make it?" "Will Josh get a job?" "Can we change roles?" "Is this God's way of providing for us in a whole different way?" "Is this the next step in expanding our family?"

Finally, with additional advice and encouragement from various circles of friends and family (Josh's and mine), and with a heart full of faith and expectancy, we decided to go. On Monday, December 17, 2012, I accepted the Communications Director position at LifePoint Church in Minden, NV. It's hard to say exactly what pushed us over the edge to say, "yes". It was a combination of things with the main one being God urging us to take this incredible step of faith. We are also striving to reach our long term goals of family provision, adoption, and debt-free living. While Josh is called to ministry as well, we know he will serve the church no matter where we are -- maybe in a different role for the time being. This new community does have a tremendous culture of adoption that we are excited to explore.

Looking at the decision, it feels like we just kicked a small rock off a cliff and we are not sure where it is going. We are excited, yet quite nervous! Telling our friends in Virginia has been hard! Our hearts break a little more each time we share the news. At the same time, we are energized as we dream about what God is going to do with this step of faith. Some may think we are leaving Virginia because of the challenges we have seen in ministry here, but honestly, there are challenges no matter where you go. Our decision to go is centered on God, who has opened a new door and has provided us an incredible opportunity to trust, serve and share Christ in a new setting.

As our adventure unfolds, we will post stories and updates. We ask for your continued prayers (and questions) as we continue on this exciting and terrifying mission. One of my favorite books of the Bible is Colossians and in it is this verse which seems to fit our lives today:

"And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ . . ." Colossians 4:3.

Part 2: The Big RevealSunday, December 30 was a big day. We both work up at 4 a.m. thinking about how the announcement would go. We then decided to head to our favorite place of worldly comfort, "Starbucks". We knew sharing the news would be hard. I asked the question "Are we sure?" probably a thousand times the week prior. (Even that morning during service I slipped Josh a note...)

If the decision to stay or go was based on how we felt, we probably would have already changed our mind many times. But we are moving forward in faith that this is what God has next for us.

Moving anywhere is never easy, moving across the country is really tricky and leaving close friends and wonderful relationships is brutal!

Addendum 2014In May of 2014 Josh was offered an opportunity to come on staff part time as the Discipleship Pastor at LifePoint Church. Then in August 2014 this became a full time opportunity. We are now both on staff at the church and are overwhelmed by this opportunity to serve on a team that loves God and loves people in many ways.